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By KEVIN RICE
Swedesboro, NJ- With big money on the line, a full field of 410 Sprint Cars made their way to the Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Saturday night for a breathtaking 35 laps of speed, and it was 27-year-old New Jersey native Kyle Reinhardt beating Danny Dietrich and Justin Peck to the finish, worth a $15,000 payday.
“Man, I love racing here,” Reinhardt said from victory lane. “I love racing in New Jersey. So many friends and family out here. It’s an awesome deal to win this. We’ve been so close, so many times, to win a 410 in New Jersey. It just means a lot.”
The win didn’t come easy for Reinhardt. First he was chased around the ⅜-mile oval by Justin Peck and Anthony Macri through the early laps. Macri’s efforts were cut short after tangling with a lapped car in turn four with nine laps completed. He retired from the race with what appeared to be minor suspension damage.
When the race resumed on lap nine, Reinhardt and Peck raced close for the lead, getting o lapped traffic by the time the scoreboard read 15. Reinhardt held the advantage, and after Justin Whittall found himself stopped in turn four the caution waved again on lap 19.
Danny Dietrich lined up fifth for the restart, but after third place running Paul Colagiovanni came to a stop with a flat tire, and then Devon Borden pulled to the pits from the fourth position, Dietrich found himself in third place. He then swapped the second position multiple times with Peck before taking control of it on lap 23.
From there, the race for the win was on, as both Reinhardt and Dietrich were lapping cars continuously, with the lead margin decreasing on each lap. Both Dietrich and Peck closed the gap over the final few laps, but they ran out of time and Reinhardt was able to celebrate victory. Lapped traffic was a big part of the show, as race fans were treated to some fast competition to the finish.
“It got really hairy,” the race winner said. “This place is just so fast, even when it slickens up. This is badass fast. We were catching the lapped cars so fast that it was really hard to judge where they were going. I think I hit three of them. I hit the wall there. It was a mess. I was just trying to hang on. I can’t thank my family, friends and crew enough.”
Dietrich finished a close second, which paid $8,000, with Peck, Tyler Ross and Freddie Rahmer rounding out the top five. Dietrich had visions of a last lap pass, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“I was hoping he wouldn’t try getting by (lapped car) Lucas (Wolfe) there on the last lap,” he noted. “I was kind of hoping he may be content just following, but he wasn’t. If he would have followed Lucas, I think I maybe could have slid them both in (turns) three and four with a big old bomb to win this thing, but he did a great job. He ran a good race. Credit is to him.”
The field was set from three heat races and a dash race. In heat one, the red flag waved after Joey Amantea collided with another car and flipped high into the air on the backstretch. He was not injured in the crash.
Alex Bright won the caution-free 25-lap USAC East Coast Sprint Cars feature over Briggs Danner and Kenny Miller III. The Danny’s Pizza Modifieds went 25 laps, with Neal Williams beating Joseph Watson and HJ Bunting to the finish. Long Island driver Dillon Steuer drove from eleventh to a fourth-place finish.
Note: Next Weekend Bridgeport will be back in action with the Danny Serrano 50 ($5000 to win) Modifieds presented by John Blewett Scrap & Waste, Sportsman, Street Stocks, 4 Cylinders andVintage Modifieds.
Race Results October 28th 2023 Bridgeport Motorsports Park
410 Sprint Cars
1. Kyle Reinhardt
2. Danny Dietrich
3. Justin Peck
4. Tyler Ross
6. Cameron Smith
7. Dylan Norris
8. Devon Borden
9. Kyle Spence
10. Ricky Dieva
11. Dave Brown
12. Lucas Wolfe
13. Dallas Schott
14. Tyler Esh
15. Bryce Norris
16. Jordan Poirier
17. Dominic Melair
18. Stephen Dows
19. Justin Whittle
20. Timmy Buckwalter
21. Paulie Colagiovanni
22. Anthony Macri
23. Mark Bitner
24. Dirk Rimrott
Danny’s Pizza Pizzazz Modifieds
1. Neal Williams
2. Joseph Watson
3. HJ Bunting
4. Dillon Steuer
5. Dominic Buffalino
6. Cale Ross
7. Wade Hendrickson
8. Sammy Martz Jr
9. Sam Martz Sr.
10. Jim Gallagher
11. Jordan Watson
12. WB James
13. Ryan Grim
14. JR Fulper
15. Chris Grbac
16. Mark Kratz
17. Clay Butler
18. Rick Laubach
19. Davey Sammons
20. Billy Osmun
21. DJ Hunt
22. David Crossman
23. Roger Manning
24. Mike Franz
25. Dirk Rimrot
26. Dallas Briedenback
1. Alex Bright
2. Briggs Danner
3. Kenny Miller III
4. Joey Amantea
5. Timmy Buckwalter
6. Steve Drevicki
7. Mike Thompson
8. JT Ferry
9. Bobby Butler
10. Preston Lattomus
11. Austin Graby
12. Ed Aikin
13. Mick Dagostino
14. Scott Frack
15. Jason Cherry
16. Richard Carnathan
17. Jonathan Swanson
18. Gary Huston
19. Aiden Borden
20. Patrick Chilmonik
